As reported a few weeks ago, Voorhees (N.J.) defensive back Eli Woodard will be making an unofficial visit to Ohio State next week. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect confirmed his intentions on Thursday evening and has made his arrangements. The outstanding cornerback prospect will be in Columbus for three days, along with his mom and dad.

“I plan on driving in next Thursday night,” Woodard said. “I’ll probably stay up there until Saturday night to see if we can make it to the Michigan State basketball game. I love watching basketball, it’s just real exciting. Watching them on TV, they are great teams so it should be exciting.”

Woodard has been on the Ohio State radar for as long as any class of 2013 prospect out there and despite plenty of shakeup to the coaching staff, still lists the Buckeyes as the school to beat.

“I’ve just been communicating with the coaches and stuff and I feel like they are all great guys,” he said. “Right now I just feel like it is probably the best fit for me just with my relationships so far. Right now it is still a long process but they are probably still number one.”

Woodard has been in regular contact with head coach Urban Meyer as well as several other members of the Ohio State coaching staff. Still, meeting with them in person for the first time is an important step in Woodard’s mind.

“I’m just looking forward to talking to them face-to-face,” he said. “I have a bunch of questions for them so I just want to get some questions answered so I can move forward with the process. I’m really looking forward to talking with coach Meyer and figuring out what is going with the corners and safeties (as far as the coaches). I want to know which coach is going to be the corners and which one is going to be the safeties coach. That is real big for me (for building relationships).”

Woodard is also hoping to get a chance to speak with some of the current players on the team to get a feel for how things have changed around the program since Meyer’s hiring.

“I want to talk to the coaches but I also want to talk to the players and get their input,” he said. “I want to see what they feel about the new situation with the coaching staff and everything and how it’s different. These are the guys that I am going to be with if I go there so I just want to get their feedback on how everything is going.”

In other recruiting news, Woodard has been rolling in scholarship offers each and every week and has recently grabbed some big offers from programs around the nation.

“I’ve picked up offers from Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Miami (FL) as well, I can’t think of all of them off the top of my head,” Woodard said. “I think USC is close to offering me. They want me to call them but I’ve been real busy with mid-terms, studying, and working out so I’m probably going to call them tonight.”

Though not someone that worries a whole lot about his offer list, Woodard admitted the barrage of offers is exciting.

“It’s real exciting,” he said. “It’s great to be wanted by all of these different colleges. At the same time, it doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day, it’s about what is the best place for you to go to. I try not to get too caught up in it but at the same time, it is exciting.”

Woodard is already an Army All-American for the 2013 class and is expected to be one of the top rated cornerback prospects in the nation when the Rivals.com class of 2013 initial rankings are released.